


Inside the Colossus

by WasteTimeandType



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Book 4, Canon, Family, Gap Filler, Gen, The Last Stand, gen - Freeform, the 2020 book 4 finale filler no-one asked for but i wanted to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:00:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23148895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WasteTimeandType/pseuds/WasteTimeandType
Summary: After Mako blows up the spirit core in the colossus, Bolin wakes to the aftermath.Canonverse gap filler during 'The Last Stand'.
Relationships: Bolin & Mako (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 89





	Inside the Colossus

Confusion was the first thing Bolin thought of when he opened his eyes.

His bed was cold, and his hands brushed against metal as he looked around at the unfamiliar location. He didn’t _like_ metal. He couldn’t even bend it. _Where was he?_

Bolin blinked a few times. The metal, still unfamiliar, began to paint a picture inside Bolin’s mind as he took in the jagged and broken forms of metal above. He’s in Kuvira’s colossus, _duh_. The last thing he remembered was it exploding and losing hisi hold on the ladder. He’d been carrying Mako—

Mako. _Where was he?_ He jolted upright, and his head dully throbbed a little. He winced as he sat up, and he rubbed his back— it felt like he’d taken the brunt of the fall with his backside, so he’d probably get some bruising, but nothing more serious than that.

He twisted himself to the side to see the familiar figure lying beside him, still and unmoving.

“Mako!” He shouted as he scrambled towards him. He pulled his brother onto his back, but there he was, completely silent. 

His hands leapt to Mako’s chest. His pulse was found beneath Bolin’s hands, steady and strong, and his chest was rising and falling as normal. Bolin let out a shaky breath, and then he breathed in deeper as he pushed down the negative thoughts.

Mako was _alive_. He was fine. In constant replay within Bolin’s mind was the image before the explosion; Mako completely still at the top of the ladder. He had feared the worst, but he had no time to dwell on it. He had to get Mako out of there. 

Mako seemed… okay. He was obviously unconscious, but he was still in one piece, and there were no obvious wounds. _Check. No blood. Always a good thing_. Mako’s left arm’s sleeve was destroyed, and the skin below was pink and burnt. When Mako was learning from Zolt, sometimes he’d come home smelling of electricity, as odd as that was. He shuddered at the memory. He had always worried then, but Mako had always brushed off his concerns. 

_This is how I’ll protect us, Bolin,_ Mako has said. 

He’d always been like that, distant as he was protective.

That same distinct smell was here today, but stronger, coupled with a smell of burning flesh.

“Mako?” Bolin asked again and gently shook him by the shoulders. Mako didn’t stir, and the panic that was banished before returned inside Bolin as he shook Mako again, slightly harder this time. _What if Mako never woke up?_ What if the lightning had permanently fried him? That’s what happened sometimes, wasn’t it? Sometimes people are alive but they can’t wake in the hospital forever asleep.

He squeezed his eyes as tears threatened to spill. He didn’t have the time for this, _Mako was injured. _

He wondered if he should try to move his brother. Maybe he should carry him out all the way? Bolin knew he could do that, easily, but maybe Mako was better off being left still for now. But maybe he shouldn’t sit around waiting for his brother to stir. Should he leave him?

Bolin didn’t know. And he wished Mako would simply wake up. He’d always leant on his brother his entire life, he couldn’t imagine life without him there. 

He was angry at his brother at that moment, even if it was selfish. Why did he have to go and risk his life? Why couldn’t they have figured something out together? There’s no time to argue, Mako has said. _But was it because Mako had made the decision for both of them already, for their friends, for the whole of Republic City? _

Typical Mako. He couldn’t stand his brother when he was like this. Sometimes he wished that Mako would just let him in a bit more and not be an idiot.

Bolin couldn’t deny the results, however. The mecha was destroyed, and Republic City was safe. Or safer. He sure hoped this was worth it. He didn’t even know what had become of their friends. Were Korra and Asami okay? Was Opal okay?

 _Focus, Bolin,_ he thought to himself. One problem at a time. 

His inner voice often reminded him of Mako.

Bolin had to find out what was happening and get some help for his brother. He could see a hatch on the other side of the mecha that looked reachable with a little clambering on the strewn metal; he assumed that would be the quickest way out. 

His plan was set, but his feet didn’t move, frozen in place as he looked as his still brother. He exhaled as he shuffled his feet, before he squeezed Mako’s right hand to try tolet him know that he was still here. Surprisingly, Mako squeezed back. The action startled Bolin, and he squeezed back as he hovered over at Mako’s face.

Mako’s eyes flickered open. “Bolin?” He mumbled as he squinted at his brother.

“It’s me,” Bolin said, composure fading as Mako smiled slightly. “You’re okay,” Bolin said, though Bolin knew he wasn’t saying it to reassure Mako.

Mako brought his hand to his chest, as if he was reassuring himself that he was definitely here. The small action made Bolin wonder if Mako really had thought he was going to die up there, all alone.

Mako then tried to sit up, but he moaned and gasped, and Bolin realised he was trying to lever himself upright with both his arms, but his left hand immediately buckled.

Bolin moved behind Mako and helped him sit up. “Easy, Mako. You kind of blew yourself up.”

“ _Nearly_ ,” Mako muttered, and he seemed fairly sluggish in his movements and his head looked about slightly as Bolin sat him up against a wall, as he closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. After a few deep breaths, his eyes opened languidly, then studied Bolin. “‘M fine.”

“No, no you’re not!” He exclaimed. Mako looked at him briefly before outstretching his good arm towards Bolin, before wrapping it around his back. Bolin wanted to strangle his brother, he wasn’t the one who was injured here, Bolin was fine and didn’t need comforting, but he found himself leaning in, despite it all.

Even though Mako smelt of electricity and burning, the familiar touch was all that Bolin needed.

Bolin clutched Mako tightly, the tears present as he buried his face into Mako’s shoulder. Mako rubbed his back, sluggish as they were, reminding Bolin of when he was a kid. The circles around his backs stopped, and the hand curled into the back of Bolin’s shirt. “You saved me,” Mako said quietly, head leaning on Bolin’s shoulder, before he returned to rubbing circles into his back. Bolin breathed in, his breath shuddering. He supposed he did. _Mako was alive_. He was hurt, but he was going to be okay.

Despite the state of everything, they were both _alive._ And that was all that was important at that moment.

Bolin’s thoughts were disturbed by a bright pink light filtering through the cracks of the shell of true mecha. The two brothers looked at each other in confusion, as the mecha shook and shuddered from whatever the hell was causing the light, the metal groaning and disturbing the relative silence the two brothers had been encased in before. There was a pause, and the light no longer seemed to be pink, it was now yellower in hue, as the mecha seemed to shake in the opposite direction, and Bolin felt the mecha slide a fair few feet, and he steadied himself and Mako against the wall, before the light disappeared. It was all over in a few moments, as everything fell silent again.

“So… I guess we better go see what that was all about?” Bolin said, as he brushed his hand against the wall. Now, vines were encroaching on the whole structure, and poking through the cracks. It made little sense, but he assumed the answer was outside. Bolin moved himself to a standing position and Mako followed, using his right arm this time. Bolin thought it was successful before Mako slid down the metal surface, his legs shaking.

Bolin darted forward to support him, moving Mako’s arm around his neck to better carry his weight, his brother weakly grunting to him a non-verbal thanks. “Let’s take it slow. I know a way out,” Bolin said as he pointed towards the hatch.

Whatever was on the outside, Bolin was confident he could face it with his brother by the side.

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this on tumblr, but I cleaned it up and posted it here! A fairly short fic of what happens in the colossus-- I know this isn't much of a story in it's own right, but eh. You write what you want to read. I put a fairly rubbish name here as I'm very unimaginative. Sometimes your fixes have to be boiler plate.
> 
> God I rewatched the scene of the Last Stand where Mako and Bolin exit the colossus. They seem to come up through a horizontal door, vertically, but if it's vertical that must mean they climbed something, I think...? i left it vague because it hurt my head to think about it too much.


End file.
